SPFL RECONSTRUCTION: CELTIC FANS OVERWHELMINGLY REJECT PLAN
- BY LIAM CARRIGAN
- Apr 2
- 3 min read
“No, seriously, is this an April Fools Day joke?”
That was pretty much everybody’s response to the announcement yesterday that the SPFL is once again considering League reconstruction, Celtic fans just shook their heads in dismay.
As usual, its totally tone-deaf to what fans actually want.
The proposal, which would see the current top flight shrink from 12 to 10 clubs looks doomed already.
SPFL Reconstruction Celtic Fans Ask: "Are You Actually Serious?"
Like I said, judging by social media reaction and my own conversations with fans, not a single person I have encountered yet thinks shrinking the current set up is a good idea.
I wondered if it was just a Celtic fan thing. So, to look beyond my own bubble, I spoke to friends of mine who support some of Scotland’s other big clubs, and Rangers too.
Most wanted a 16 team League or even a 20 team top flight like they have in England.
In a league where clubs always seem to be in financial turmoil, in what sphere of the infinite multiverse is it ever a good idea to give teams less matches, and less variety of opposition?
The silent mastermind behind all of this is of course the TV companies.
When it comes to negotiating for the rights to broadcast games, and securing a fair deal for both TV viewers and fans who attend games, The SPFL are to Sky TV what poor Ned Beatty’s character was to those Hillbillies in the movie Deliverance.
If you don’t get that reference, for your own sake, please don’t Google it.
Such is the level of deference in Scottish football’s governing body to money and TV, that they don’t even try to hide it anymore.
They know this idea is dead on arrival. They know that as soon as the clubs consult their fans, it will be a unanimous “No!” probably followed by the word “surrender” from The Rangers fans, such is their instinctive response to any attempt at multi-syllable communication.
Seriously though, the question is, why propose such a ridiculous reform when you know its going to be thrown out almost instantly?
The answer is shamefully simple, it makes the current, totally banal product somehow more appealing.
Nobody wants to eat a three month old slice of bread. Offer to any right-thinking person and they’ll throw it back in your face.
But if you’re suddenly offered the choice between eating that bread or having your testicles trampled on by a large, angry rhinoceros, you’ll devour that mouldy bread as if it were a fine sirloin steak.
Extreme imagery, I know, but the point stands. It’s a classic marketing ploy. Take a product you know most people are not satisfied with, propose changing it into something far worse and suddenly the status quo becomes far more palatable.
If that is indeed what’s happening here then the SPFL may actually be smarter than I ever gave them credit for.
I suspect however, its more likely that they are just so far out of touch with the ordinary, working class supporter, that they never even considered this change would be a problem.
Our top division is stale, its tired, and the split means that every year, to limited degrees, at least one team gets shafted. The SPFL need to think bigger, not smaller, if they actually want to improve the game in Scotland.
It’s time for a 16, 18 or even 20 team top flight.
As the Americans like to say: “Go big or go home!”